Hey all;

I have been invited, and my son wants me to take him, to an ice fishing tournament in Tupper Lake, NY at the beginning of February. Have any of you heard of it? I guess it's held every year.

Have any of you been? Are any of you going? Will the ice really hold a fat old deer hunter? I've never been ice fishing before, is it really that hard?

Thanks guys;





I'll take good luck over skill any day!

King,I've never fished that lake before but some of the best fishin is done through the ice.4" of ice is more than enough to hold a group of people.I've fished ice as thin as 2" and never had any problems.Have fun and Good Luck

By the time February rolls around Tupper should have better than 1 foot of ice. Dont be surprised when you see cars, trucks driving on the ice. I have even seen a small Winnebago out on the ice! Now that is nuts. I fished Lake Pleasant last weekend and had close to 8" of good ice, not to worry.

10 Pointers

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King I've been on many frozen lakes snowmobile, four wheelers motorcycles, and even a 4 wheel drive truck. Ice is made of water and water can be VERY unpredictable(sp). Even though your going during apart of the year when the lake is frozen you still need to check with the local people as far as how safe it is. You may also want to check with people and make sure you know were the unsafe spots are. The lake I used to live on had a place in it that would hardly ever frez. if it did frez. it still wasn't safe enough to go on. I live in the Adirondecks so I am used to frozen lakes. Just be carefull and check with the local people and you should have a real good time.

Thanks for the encouraging words everybody. This is an organized event which is held every year, so I would hope that the people who run the event make sure that the ice is safe. It may be small consolation but, if I go, there will be a few hundred others who do too. I guess this event is fairly well attended every year.



I'll take good luck over skill any day!

Krisken, One inch of ice enough to hold a team of horses? I hope your kidding.If you go out on ice 1" I can guarentee you will get wet eventually.

<BLOCKQUOTE id=quote<font size=1 face='Verdana, Arial, Helvetica' id=quote>quote:<hr height=1 noshade id=quote>Everything that could go wrong did go wrong several weeks ago, when tragedy struck in Lawrence, Mass. Four boys, ages 7 to 11, drowned in the Merrimack River when thin ice, 1 to 2 inches, gave way. <hr height=1 noshade id=quote></BLOCKQUOTE id=quote></font id=quote><font face='Verdana, Arial, Helvetica' size=2 id=quote>

I was an avid ice fisherman for a long time.Everyone wanted me to be the &quot;tester&quot; because I'm a big guy.lol

We fished on rivers alot,one day a chunk broke free and took six guys down stream about a half a mile.

http://www.state.ma.us/dfwele/dfw/dfwice.htm

Here's a link to a table telling you how much weight you can put at each thickness of ice.

I've fished as few as two inches but only on ponds I know very well - two inches on a pond that has springs in it or any current is very dangerous, as it may be two inches where you check and just skim elsewhere.

Another important thing mentined on that table is &quot;clear blue ice&quot; if the ice doesn't form right it doesn't hold as much weight.

Strange Biller, Another great point you made is about currents and springs.

Ask anyone that fishes the Bay of Quinte in Canada what the currents will do to the ice in a short amount of time.